Ranking the 15 best Seattle Seahawks rookie seasons ever
By Andy Excell
Seahawks 10 through 6
For those that have not been counting the top ten will contain a QB, a WR, a guard, 3 linebackers, a safety, two RBs and a kick returner. Amongst them, you will find three current Seahawks.
10. Earl Thomas – Safety
Thomas wasted no time justifying his 14th overall pick in the 2010 draft by recording 76 tackles and 5 interceptions as a rookie. In his nine years as a Seahawk he went on to total 664 tackles and 30 interceptions.
His rookie year was his fifth-best in terms of tackles but he never topped the 5 interceptions he had that season, matching it twice though. No wonder the Legion of Boom is so fondly remembered in Seattle.
9. Bobby Joe Edmonds – Kick returner
We have to go back to 1986 for Edmonds’ rookie year. With 1,172 yards as a returner of punts and kick-offs as a rookie at an average of 22.5 yards per return and including a TD return, Edmonds was selected to the Pro Bowl as a rookie kick returner.
He kept up that standard for two subsequent seasons as a Seahawk before moving on. Another player to have his career shortened by injury, Edmonds could have broken all records as a kick returner had he enjoyed a long career.
8. Thomas Rawls – Running back
2015 was Rawls’ year, he came into his rookie season with a major chip on his shoulder, having gone undrafted. Starting the season buried on the depth chart behind Marshawn Lynch, Christine Michael, Robert Turbin, and Freddie Jackson Rawls worked his way into the starting role following Michael being traded to Dallas and injuries to both Lynch and Turbin.
He carried that chip on his shoulder for 906 scrimmage yards and 5 touchdowns in just 7 starts.
He was unable to repeat this level of performance in the following two seasons and left Seattle to go on to make just one start for Cincinnati in 2018. But what a rookie season he had!
7. D.K.Metcalf – Wide receiver
The second of four current Seahawks to make this top 15 of all-time rookie campaigns, Metcalf had 900 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns as a rookie in 2019. Last year he had the first of what will surely be plenty of 1,000 receiving yard seasons. Pretty good for the 64th overall pick at the end of the second round.
Let’s just hope his quest to qualify for the U.S Olympic team does not distract him from his day job in 2021.
6. Steve Hutchison – Guard
It is always difficult to quantify how good a guard is, but the fact that Hutchison made the Pro Bowl as a rookie and was a significant factor in Shaun Alexander’s production at running backing this and subsequent years make a pretty good case for Hutchison.